While it’s hard to imagine what Jay Gruden thought he was getting himself into, he has quickly realized it was worse than he ever expected.
The Washington coach admitted yesterday that the circus-like atmosphere was certainly beyond what he thought he’d be dealing with.
“It’s a little bit more than I expected, yes, if that’s the question,” Gruden said, via Mike Jones of the Washington Post. “I understand that there are stories to be had, and if you look around every corner, you can find a story about somebody negatively if you want to. We try to stay positive and upbeat, and I try not to let the stories get to me or this team.”
With the quarterback drama that has led some to wonder if this year will be his only year in Washington, Gruden is certainly showing signs of wear and tear. Jones described him as looking “as haggard and beaten as we’ve ever seen him.”
It might be because at the moment, there are no easy answers to how to fix a mess decades in the making.
Gruden has told his players not to pay attention to the swirling reports, while monitoring their social media presence to keep them from adding to the fire.
At this point, it’s a bit of bunker mentality, as he’s taking comfort in the old coaching mantra of focusing on this week’s game.
“The way we coach should not change based on our record,” he said. “We always coach, we are very committed to what we do, very passionate for what we do and that will never change.”
Whether he’s one of the changes this offseason remains to be seen.